Shopper Innovation Awards: James Ready swaps social space

The beer brand wins Silver for letting its drinkers use its Facebook cover photo, and vice versa.

James Ready puts fans at the centre of everything it does. So with the help of Leo Burnett, the brand gave fans ownership of one of its most prized assets: its Facebook cover image – a space no other beer brand had turned over to its fans before.

“The James Ready Cover Photo Swap” was a simple bartering tool allowing drinkers to use JR’s cover photo space, if they let the beer brand use theirs. Drinkers used the James Ready real estate to promote their business, impress the ladies and more. In return, fans helped introduce James

Ready to a new audience by giving up their own Facebook cover photo. The brand’s message not only appeared on top of fan Facebook pages, but also in their news feeds.

In the first three weeks of the program, the brand reached almost six million people. James Ready saw a 352% jump in Facebook page shares, a 402% jump in content “likes” and its Facebook fan following grew by 37%.